Chapter 86

Alaria:

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on, Enzo?” I asked, sitting at the dining table by his side as Ashton sat, watching his show.

He took a sip of the glass of water that I gave him. And I couldn’t help but find myself frowning when I saw how broken the man looked. I knew that I have never seen him in such a state before, and seeing how calm he was, how drained he looked, I couldn’t help but find myself wondering what he was thinking.

“I just need to sit here for a while. I didn’t know where to go, and I…”

“Enzo, I didn’t ask about how long you’re staying here, what I asked was what was bothering you.” I said, stopping him. “This is your house, you are more than welcome to stay here as much as you want, I am the guest here, not you.”

He didn’t speak for a while, instead, he shook his head as he clearly debated, getting lost in his thoughts once again.

“Do you ever find yourself doubting every decision that you made? Wondering whether or not it was actually worth it?” He asked, and I looked away from him for a moment as I looked at my son. There were many times when that happened to me, especially when I first gave birth to Ashton by myself.

“I don’t think that there is a mother who hasn’t doubted herself, her decisions, and how she does things every once and a while.” I said, choosing my words carefully. He scoffed and nodded, looking down at the glass that he had in hand.

“At least you know that you are the mother of the child that you have. You don’t find yourself doubting who you are and what you always knew.” He said, making my heart drop.

“You found out?” I asked, voicing out my question. He froze, not saying a word for a moment before he shook his head.

“You knew?” He asked, and I nodded.

“I found out earlier today. First, it was Damon in the morning. He threw the fact at me as if it was a weapon for me to use.

Then Jacob showed up.”

“What?” Enzo asked, and I nodded, looking at Ashton. His eyes hardened and the pain that I saw in his eyes was now replaced by rage. “He did what?”

“I called Ezio at the time. It was one of the reasons why I came to the hospital. I couldn’t tell you, I didn’t know how to tell you when I was there.” I said, and closing my eyes as I tried to ignore the pain and anger that I felt. I didn’t even know how to deal with the situation as it happened, to be speaking to him about it was not something that I wanted to do right now.

“Did he hurt you?” He asked, and I shook my head.

“He wouldn’t dare. He was in front of Ashton’s school, and that is more of a concern to me. The man knows where my son goes to school, and I can’t stop him from going to school. I don’t want to scare the boy, but I know that things are going to end up being risky right now.” I said, and Enzo’s eyes hardened.

“Did he tell you anything that…?”

12% 12:07 “He confirmed the situation on Katherine.” I said, stopping him. “He told me that it would be a son for a son and me for his woman.”

“What?” Enzo asked, nearly banging the table. Thankfully, he reminded himself that Ashton was sitting calmly with two maids as he watched his cartoons. The last thing we wanted to do was startle the boy.

“I didn’t know what to do, Enzo. I had to go to Ezio at that moment, I knew that things were going to grow more complicated, and I wanted to tell you, but…”

“You thought that I was going to turn it against you.” He said, stopping me. I looked down at the table, avoiding his eyes.

“I put myself in your shoes, Ezio advised me not to speak as he knew that you would think that I didn’t want you with Katherine.” I said, and he raised an eyebrow.

“The fact that I am the last person to find out about all of this…”

“I just found out earlier today, and when I came to the hospital, things were already too messed up. If I told you, I would have broken you. Alonso is in the hospital because of the fire, and I didn’t want to break your heart more than it was for him…“.

“So, you chose to lie to me?”

“You are not going to blame me for this, Enzo. I didn’t start this war, I was trying to stop things from escalating in a way that we wouldn’t have been able to stop it.” I said, and he nodded.

“So, you went ahead and told your brother instead of coming to me?” He asked, and I shook my head.

“Would you have come to me if you were in my shoes?” I asked, looking the man in the eye. “Put yourself in my place. I know that you are with the one person that I…”

“Did you want to see me in this pain?” He asked, stopping me. I looked at the man for a moment before shaking my head.

“Do you think that I would want you to be hurting, Enzo?” I asked, and he raised an eyebrow.

“I would deserve it, you know, after breaking you, after the divorce; it would only be natural for you to want to see me breaking inside.” He said, and I took a deep breath.

“The last thing that I would ever want to do is break your heart, Enzo. No matter the issue, I wouldn’t break your soul using your son against you.” I said, wrapping my hand around his glass. “I’ll go and get you a glass of water. I am guessing that you wouldn’t want to drown anything else if I offered it anyway..”